Robert McCartney

Robert McCartney (24 April 1936-) was the founder and leader of the UK Unionist Party from 1995 to 2008 and a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Down from 1998 to 2007, preceding Brian Wilson.

Biography
Robert McCartney was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 24 April 1936 to a family of Presbyterian Ulster Scots. A graduate of Queen's University, he was a member of the Ulster Unionist Party until he was expelled in June 1987 for refusing to withdraw from the general election that year, upon which he founded the UK Unionist Party as the "Real Unionists". In 1995, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as the UKUP leader, but he angered many in his party in 1998 when he threatened to resign from the NIA if Sinn Fein was allowed to share power with the government. McCartney believed that Northern Ireland should be ruled directly from London and not given home rule, opposing the devolution of power in the region in favor of integration into the United Kingdom. In 2007, he retired from politics after the loss of his NIA seat.